Cleveland Cavaliers Will Unseat Los Angeles Lakers Atop NBA Throne in 2010

The city of Cleveland should finally see its first professional sports championship since 1964 in June thanks to Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry giving LeBron James adominant big man to play with in Shaquille O’Neal and upgrading the team’s defense.

Many people may disagree with that, and I understand why.

The Lakers and Celtics sport a better all-around team on paper than Cleveland’s squad heading into the 2009-2010 NBA season, which starts on Tues., Oct. 27, and the Cavaliers were noticeably outplayed and outcoached by the Orlando Magic in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.

But before their loss to the Magic, James’ squad cruised through the regular season with a 66-16 record, which was one game better than that for the Lakers.

And they’ve done more than any other team in the league to get better this off season.

O’Neal was largely responsible for derailing a perennial playoff team in Phoenix, as he just wasn’t a good fit for Steve Nash.

But even at the age of 37 he averaged 17.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last year respectively, and should gel much better with a Cavaliers team that is used to playing at a slow tempo on offense.

O’Neal has enough left in his tank for at least one more productive season, and he’ll take a lot of pressure off of James’s back (and in turn Mo Williams and Delonte West’s back) in the playoffs on the offensive end.

It may take the Cavaliers and O’Neal a month or two to figure each other out, but a soft schedule during that period will allow them to still be in the hunt for the best record in the league while that learning process takes place.

And Cleveland’s weak perimeter defense and inability to defend a top-five big man that proved to be their Achilles heel against the Magic last year have now been addressed thanks to the additions of the 6'-8” Jamario Moon, the 6'-6” Anthony Parker and O’Neal.   

Add that with an improved bench and this team should be able to beat every team in the Eastern Conference playoffs before making it to the NBA Finals and unseating the Lakers.

The Magic will take a step back this year like most teams do after losing in the Finals, and the Celtics have a better starting five than the Cavaliers’ but it is doubtful that they will head into the playoffs with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen all healthy.

And the Lakers could easily repeat, but at the same time they remind me a lot of their 2003-04 team that lacked cohesiveness. They have a lot of guys (from the starters to bench players) who will want shots, and it is usually not a good thing when you’re playing for a coach that is all but certain to retire at the end of the season.

James will not have to try to win a championship by himself this year thanks to O’Neal, who will make everybody around him better just like the heir to Michael Jordan already does.

But at the same time James won’t be afraid to put up 50 shots himself or just feed the ball to O’Neal on every play if he sees Williams and West (who should start playing pretty soon after struggling with some personal issues) struggling.

He’s going to do everything in his power to bring Cleveland a championship, as he still needs Ohioans to purchase his Nike products after he signs with the New Jersey Nets this summer.

Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown will allow him to do that, which should mean that there is no way that Cleveland won’t be victorious in the NBA Finals this year.